The TRJN was a result of the negotiations held in Moscow between the Polish Communists, the Soviet Union, and Stanisław Mikołajczyk's faction from 17 June to 21 June. The Polish government-in-exile did not recognize the TRJN.[1] A few of its members, including the former Prime Minister of Poland Stanisław Mikołajczyk, decided to trust the Soviets and enter into negotiations with them, only to be betrayed later. Mikołajczyk's main power base was the Polish People's Party, a centrist organization and continuation of the prewar Polish agrarian movement.

The Communists had no intention of giving the opposition any real power, or carrying out the promised 'free and fair' elections. The members of the opposition that received government positions were kept in check by their deputies and staff, loyal to the Communists, so they had little real power.

From 17 July to 2 August, a delegation from the TRJN attended the 1945 Potsdam Conference.

On 16 August, a Soviet-Polish border agreement was signed in Moscow. Before the end of August, Poland agreed to cede the eastern provinces to the Soviet Union and officially recognized the eastern border based on a slightly modified Curzon line.

The 'free and fair' elections promised by the TRJN were postponed until the Communists were sure they could control the election process. In the meantime, they increased repressions of opposition members, who were bribed, threatened, delegalised or even murdered. In the words of Gomułka, the goal of the communists was to be the "hegemon of the nation" and nothing would stop them. On 30 June 1946, they tested their control during the 3xTAK referendum, the results of which were falsified and a 68% support was claimed.

Two great reforms carried out by TRJN were the nationalization decree and Three-Year Plan (of 1947–49), both created in 1946. The nationalization decree gave the government control over every enterprise which employed more than 50 people; by the end of the year, 90% of the country's industry was controlled by the government.